Lahmacun - Turkish pizza/flatbread
The topping for this flatbread/pizza might be a bit unusual but it's deliciously packed with flavor.
Servings: 8 pieces
Calories: 259kcal
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Ingredients
For dough base
- 2 cups all purpose flour plain flour, or bread flour
- 1 teaspoon fast acting instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- ⅔ cup lukewarm water or a little more/less as needed
For the topping
- 2 shallots or ½ red onion
- 2 cloves garlic or one if large
- 1 tomato large or 2 small
- ½ red pepper
- ½ lb ground lamb lamb mince, can use beef
- 1 cup parsley leaves lightly packed
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper if available, or use some red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts optional
Instructions
To prepare dough
- To make the base, mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Drizzle in the oil and add most of the water and mix to bring the dough together. It's often easiest to mix by hand, at least towards the end. Add more water, as needed, so everything comes together but is not too sticky.
- Tip the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes. It should stop feeling sticky and be smooth and more elastic. Clean out your mixing bowl, gently brush with a little oil then put the dough back in, and put it in a warm place, covered with a cloth or cling wrap.film, for around 1 hour to 90 minutes, depending how warm, to rise and roughly double.
To mix topping
- Roughly chop the shallots/onion, garlic, tomato and pepper. Remove parsley leaves from stems (thin stems are fine) and measure out. Place the onion, pepper, garlic and parsley in food processor and blend together to break everything up. If needed, scrape down and blend again. You want the mixture to be relatively small pieces.
- Add the lamb, tomato, spices (allspice, cumin, paprika, Apello pepper and salt) as well as the tomato paste and oil. Blend until all well combined. Refrigerate if not ready to make up the lahmacun yet.
To make and cook lahmacun
- Pre-heat the oven to 425F/220C. If you have a pizza stone, pre-heat it or you can warm baking sheets/trays to then place parchment on top of them.
- Knock back the dough and divide into eight balls. Let sit for around five minutes to rest. Cover the ones you are not using until ready to use them. Roll out a ball of dough into a thin circle or oval, around 6 - 8 inches (15 - 20 cm) in diameter (really just as thin as you can make them).
- Transfer to a piece of parchment to place on the pizza stone/baking sheet and spread a spoonful of the topping mixture over the top, carefully spreading it into a thin layer (it's often easiest to finish by hand and press it out).
- Optionally, sprinkle over a few pine nuts on the top of each (this is less traditional, but I had it this way once in Cyprus and it pairs well). Repeat with the other pieces of dough and topping mixture.
- Bake in the oven for around 12-15min until browning around the edges and the topping is cooked. You may want to start them at the bottom of the oven, then move up and turn part way through. It's often easiest to cook one or two at a time, then prepare others as they are baking and switch over.
- Serve eg rolled with slices of tomato, a squeeze of lemon, or add some slices of red onion or chopped salad as you prefer.
Video
Notes
Note photos and video show making a half portion but same process applies.
Nutrition
Calories: 259kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 336mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1192IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 3mg
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